I Was A Soldier:Neuroi Engaged
by Reaper6883
Summary: In the year of 2018 the bloodiest war in mankind's history is starting to come to an end. A team of elite soldiers from a special forces unit known as "Black Company" are killed after an ambush by Red Imperial forces. After being transported to a strange alternate reality how will they combat a new mysterious foe. Could they be the salvation for the world or set the world on fire
1. Chapter 1

**March 27** **th** **2018**

 **3:13 PM**

 **Cpt. Lewis "Trigger" Williams**

 **British Army, [REDACTED]**

The world is still ravaged by the flames of war.

One side fanning the flames while the other tries to put it out. I used to hear them say war is a matter of doing evil on the hope good comes out of it.

But all I see is evil.

The flames burn everything it touches, destroying the lives of millions killing them slowly and painfully.

Just like a real fire you need oxygen, heat and fuel to keep one burning. We could cool it down, or remove and starve the fuel and oxygen.

Easy enough right?

Well putting out a fire with millions of Red Imperial soldiers has some…

…difficulties.

I'm Lewis Williams of the British Army and a captain of a Special Forces division known as Black Company.

 **Somewhere in the Ukraine-Russia Border…**

The rumbling of the Stryker as it traversed through the dirt paths kept us all awake from much needed sleep, we just couldn't wait until we got to the FOB. The inside was painted a shade of dark white only illuminated by green lights on the TV screens for the crew and a slight ray of sunshine shining from the window on a grey cold cloudy day. The seats were so uncomfortable, that sitting on it for long enough may start to give you back problems, it was cramped and with wires and pipes hanging from the roof and walls. But at least in here we were relatively safe.

Our mission was to escort a supply convoy to some far off Forward operating Base in the vicinity of the Ukraine-Russia border.

"Are we there yet, sir?" asked a man with an American accent.

The voice belonged to none other but our SAW Gunner, Mack David's. He's your standard American: Jolly, confident, relaxed and creative. He's my right hand man with the rank of lieutenant and by the far probably the most experienced out of all of us. He fought in Afghanistan and against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, if he was any better he would be in charge if this team not me.

He wore a black BDU, just like us all, but had extra Kevlar plating and had larger web gear pouches. He wielded a M249 with a reflex sight and a bipod. He also had an AT4 missile launcher and a sig p320, which was a relatively new sidearm to the US military.

He removed his helmet and balaclava revealing his messy auburn hair, emerald eyes

I did the same revealing my spiky bleached-white hair and sapphire blue eyes.

I glanced down at my watch, "We gotta wait another half an hour, mate,"

"Can it, I'm trying to get some shuteye," another voice said. It belonged to a Japanese girl in her early 20's

She was our sniper. Her name is Ayaka "Crosshair" Tomoko. Most of the time she is a real asshole, a bitch and pretty violent, I don't know why, but when you get to know she can be pretty nice and can be like a sister figure. Just don't piss her off or she'll go super saiyan on your ass.

She pulled down her tube mask and pulled down her hood revealing her sky blue hair in a ponytail accompanied with blue eyes with a pink scar doing down her white eye and was armed with an AX.50 sniper rifle and a Glock 18 as her sidearm.

"Can't we all?"

"Shut up, Bait," yawned Ayaka.

Baits real name is Taylor Wright with the rank of corporal. His uniform was pretty bob standard: black BDU, balaclava, ballistic goggles Kevlar vest and web gear. He was armed with an MP5 with a front grip and holographic sight and a Beretta M9 as a sidearm.

We lovingly called him "Bait" because of his stupidity and him always being the first to come under fire, I'm surprised he even passed basic training. Naturally, we would've called him idiot, retard or nincompoop but out of pity we called Bait instead.

"Good thing robots don't get tired," said a voice with a British accent like a butler.

"You know I envy you, Albert," said another "Man you lucky,"

Albert as you may not already know was not a human but a robotic assault drone.

He had a trapezium shaped head from the side with cameras and sensors jutting out of it and metal plating covering his vulnerable mechanical skeleton save for the joints. In addition, he wore Kevlar and web gear to carry ammo or any other supplies and he was painted a grey-silver colour.

The other voice belonged to our medic, Mike Garcia nicknamed "Magic man" because of his amazing abilities as a field medic. He didn't look much different to bait except he had different gear on him. He carried a rucksack with medical supplies in and he had pouches on his Kevlar vest which contained syringes, scissors and field dressings. He wielded an M4 sopmod with an ACOG sight and a fore grip. His sidearm was sig p320.

Despite his Mexican heritage he spoke English well but with a slight accent.

"Man I wish I was a robot," said Taylor, "I'll probably end the war in one foul swoop,"

"Bro," Mack put a hand on Taylors shoulder, "No amount of ceramic plating, fire power and computer assisted mechanisms will save you from your own stupidity,"

We all gave out a chuckle.

A large explosion interrupted our laughter shaking the ground slightly.

"What the fuck was that!"

The Stryker came to a shuddering halt.

"Crikey! What was that?" I yelled

"The guys up front just hit a landmine," called out the driver.

A missile sped right beside us hitting the transport behind us. It erupted into flames, a bright orange light, as the fuel tanks exploded. The burning apparitions of soldiers stumbled out only later to fall dead, their lives burning away slowly.

"Shit! Ambush!"

"Everyone out!" I barked.

I looked down at my helmet inspecting it for any faults. It looked like the standard soldier helmet: Ballistic goggles, helmet and balaclava. Pretty standard. I pulled my balaclava on which had a shark mouth and strapped on my helmet, which had a white stripe coming down the middles and fixed my sleek red ballistic goggles on place.

We opened the rear doors running out and finding cover on anything we could find.

The cold bit at my face. The sky was dark and cloudy, reminding me about England, with rising pillars of thick black smoke. The suffocating choking stench of smoke and ash entered my nostrils I felt like I was going to have a coughing fit but fought it back.

"Watch your motion sensors they're coming from the tree line!"

I looked at the top left of my goggles which had a circle with blue, friendlies, and red, hostiles.

"Fire onto the tree line! Tracers, Mack!" I ordered.

They returned fire onto us. The Russian bullets screamed pass as they missed their targets.

I popped my head out of cover and cocked my M29 OICW, looking down the sights and firings several short bursts.

A cry of a soldier accompanied by a thud.

"That's a kill," I muttered.

But as soon as my kill had fallen the numbers of the Imperials seemed to multiply, my motion sensor was blotched with red, as they slowly advanced. A fire blazed lighting the trees and bushes on fire in sharp contrast to the slowly advancing silhouettes.

"Damn their everywhere!" cried out a British soldier before being cut down by gunfire.

"They're flanking us! Watch the left!" said a Yankee soldier.

"We need reinforcement's sarge!"

Damn it! We were losing control of the situation.

"Mack! Get on up here and provide suppressing fire. Crosshair, get on that truck and pick them off. Mike, see what you can do with the wounded. Albert, Bait! Get on the other side and hold positions!" I barked.

The resulting fire fight was intense one wrong move would result in our deaths.

"Type 99 watch out!"

Wait, Type 99? Isn't that one of those Chinese Main Battle Tanks?

"Damn, so the Red Imperials have reinforcements from china?" I thought. Heh, I shouldn't be surprised seeing how the war is starting to turn in our favour and china was part of the Red Imperial Empire.

I watched as the Chinese tank shot an AP round at a M1A2 Abrams tanks. The round penetrated through a grate at the side of the turret going clean through and coming out the other side, setting the ammo off.

I watched in horror as a raging pillar of flame spouted from the turret.

"Mack! Mack! Get over here with-" I was cut off mid-sentence as I was thrown across the road as a High Explosive, from the Type 99, shell detonated behind me. I fell face first onto the cold hard dirt, blood spluttering from my mouth and blood pouring down my head my vision blurred. I was unable to use my legs so I had to haul myself using my hands.

Through my blurred vision I managed to make out a black clad figure. No doubt about it, its Mack!

Using every ounce of strength I had left I croaked out weakly, "Mack, you bloody wanker take out that bloody bastard before he blows us to shit!"

But as my vision started to clear I realised I was calling out to what _was_ Mack.

Poor bugger was still clinging onto his machine gun with crimson holes in his torso.

"Damnit," I muttered.

The rumbling of tank tracks and the sound of footsteps grew stronger.

I wasn't going to let them finish me off without a fight.

I crawled to Mack's corpse and ripped of his AT4 aggressively off his back and turned around, aiming the missile launcher at the side of the tank. A group of soldiers stuck close to the tanks for cover and support.

"If I do this correctly I could take out the tank along with those soldiers," I thought.

Two birds with one stone.

I looked down at the sights and pulled the trigger.

Click.

The missile shot out of the launcher at such a tremendous speed that the recoil nearly sent the launcher flying.

The missile zoomed towards its target screeching like a bird of prey as it slammed into the side of the Chinese tank making it tip slightly.

The Type 99 stopped in its tracks before an explosion shook the earth. A giant orange-yellow ball of fire erupted from the tank blowing the turret off the tank like a volcano.

I didn't know what that tank was carrying but it sure did get the job done.

Soldier unfortunate enough to be within the explosion were incinerated while others were sent crashing to the ground never to get up.

I rolled onto m y back relinquishing my grip on the missile launcher and spluttering blood. A severe sensation of pain surged through my body, my torso felt like it was burning, as it bled profusely turning my armour into a maroon colour as a pool of blood started growing around me.

I looked towards the treeline with blood pouring down my face covering it like a red mask. I looked at the ever advancing silhouettes of soldiers cutting down the last pockets of resistance.

A cold numbness overcame my body after agonising pain, my body refused to move, leaving me to watch the grey fading sky and blazing forest. The cries and wails of the last few soldiers in a last ditch futile effort to hold the line started to die out.

My life flashed before my eyes, to say the very least it wasn't the best life one could ask for.

My breathing started to slow and the world around me faded away from my grasp.


	2. Chapter 2

My eyes shot open being greeted with the starry night sky, like a wide open canvas painted blue-indigo with stars glistening in the sky like diamonds while the moon stared down at me. I awoke in a forest clearing, surrounded with pine trees, the floor was damp and was covered in leaves and grass.

Was this heaven? I was pretty sure you would be greeted by an angel and I was half expecting my folks to be here, hell maybe even her.

"Ok, so this isn't heave, hell then?" I thought to myself.

No, it couldn't be hell, it didn't look the part. So that means I'm alive but where is everyone?

I moaned as I struggled to get up. There were no signs of the convoy, or any significant remains, except for a few debris.

"Hello!" I cupped my mouth yelling hoping to make contact with anyone for help.

After stumbling a few steps I found a gun metal coloured covered in dying leaves. I knelt down and dug through the leaves revealing a muddy wet M29 OICW. I easily recognised it as mine due to the scratches on the side and a stickers I had on the stock.

It read "Keep calm and return fire" and another that's had a picture of a pink unicorn and rainbow. It read "Mr Toots"

I checked the mags to see that that it was all full. I then looked down the scope to check if the fire control computer or the laser rangefinder had been damaged in the previous firefight.

"Everything looks good," I thought to myself.

I holstered the OICW and scavenged the site debris for food, ammo and electronics and stuffed them in my ruck, fitting it in every little piece of space I had left, before heading out into the wilderness.

* * *

I wandered for what seemed like hours. The night got darker as the tree's blotted out the sky, the only source of light was the crimson glow which came from my Heads up display.

I cautiously checked my sectors constantly and kept a watchful eye on my motion sensor.

I was about to drift to asleep until a sudden rusting that came from a nearby bush shook me awake.

"Who's there?" I called out.

No reply.

"Show yourself!" I yelled. I cocked my gun and trained my finger on the trigger, ready to pump whoever or whatever it was full of hot lead.

It rustled again and again. The anticipation was immense and I was already starting to sweat.

It rustled and then silence.

Until a squirrel jumped out of the bush, making me stagger backwards.

"That's it?" I thought to myself, "I got scared of a bloody squirrel?"

I knelt down watching as the squirrel feasted on an acorn.

"Meh, it could've been worse. At least it wasn't that predator lad from the movies," I thought.

It continued feasting upon its acorn until it stopped, it looked like it saw something move like it wasn't alone. It continued to stare at the darkness behind me for a bit before running off and climbing up a tree.

I cocked my gun checking my sectors.

I wasn't alone here, I could sense movement within the darkness.

I only got a glimpse of the figure, he was shrouded in black and his eyes glowed red, leaving a neon red trail behind him before disappearing again.

"Damnit," I muttered. I was already starting to get nervous again. I was relying on my motion sensor to track its movements, it sped across the before disappearing again.

Suddenly the black clad red eyed figure advanced towards me in an attempt to tackle me to the ground.

My soldiers instinct kicked in and I reacted quickly readying my weapon and hitting the black clad figure with the butt of the M29 sending him sprawling to the ground. I stepped over him pointing my gun at his head, at this range 5.56mm rounds should kill him.

"Errrkk… Captain?" the sprawled man said.

"Captain?" I mumbled, I recognised that voice, "Bait is that you?"

Bait gave a short nod before I lowered my gun and offered my hand to help him up.

"Bait? You're alive?" I asked wide eyed, "Goddamnit, mate, I nearly blew your brains out lad! Wait, are the others alive too? What about the convoy?"

"Hells to the yeah baby! The entire team is here, even Albert made it too, I can't say the same for the convoy, but we haven't found any bodies,"

Thank god, at least my team made it. Being alone in this forest wit bait will be enough to drive me to insanity, but other than that I'm glad he's not dead. Although he's an annoying 'lil shit at least he's some form of entertainment.

"C'mon sir, I'll lead the way," he said turning away and walking off with me closely tagging behind him.

"Bait leading the way? Haha that's a good joke. Hopefully we don't get lost," I thought.

He led me deeper through the woods, with our guns cocked ready to shoot anything that might jump on us in the darkness.

We reached a small clearing which was littered with crated and more debris, which I assumed were from the remains of the convoy. It was lit up with a campfire which emitted a warm faint orange glow and around it were four upturned logs with two black clad figures, by the looks of them they looked like Mack and Mike.

A grey silver robot, which was undoubtedly Albert, was operating a damaged radio, the radio were two boxes coloured olive drab and a black antenna which was erected on the side of one of the boxes alongside a messy assortment of different wires.

Ayaka was the black hooded sniper sitting atop of a pine tree branch cradling her rifle keeping over watch.

"Captain? We thought you were dead," Mike said adding another log to the fire.

"I could say the same to you to," I said taking a seat next to him to warm up by the fire, "Where the 'ell are we anyway?"

Ayaka called down from the tree readjusting her position to make herself more comfortable, "I have no fucking idea, but judging from the climate my best guess is somewhere near the Adriatic Sea, maybe?"

"Ok then, what's Albert doing?"

"He's trying to call for help, been doing it ever since we got here," Mack said as he sat by the fire with an MRE in his hands, "You want some cap'?" he opened the MRE and looked through its contents, "I got some chicken pesto pasta, some skittles and military grade bread,"

"No thanks, mate," I said waving him off, "I've lost my appetite, you don't see this shit everyday mate,"

"More for me then," Mack mumbled.

"Albert, I want you to stay up all night on that radio to get some help. Ayaka, since your already on it, I want you on night guard tonight, we'll shift rotations every few hours," I ordered.

"What will you be doing sir?" asked Albert peering from behind the radio.

"I'm going to sleep, mate, I've seen enough shit today," I said pulling a sleeping bag I've found inside a crate and setting it by fire.

I pulled my ballistic goggles over my helmet as I unbuckled the helmet and set it aside, leaving my balaclava on to keep the warmth in.

As I tucked into my sleeping bag I couldn't help but feel that something was off.

I've probably been watching too many late night movies or playing to many video games, but this world didn't feel quite right. Like a whole new world even. I died in Ukraine I was certain of it, this didn't seem feasible let alone logical.

The more I dwelled on these questions the more uneasy I felt. Why am I here? What happened back at Ukraine?

This entire situation felt like a good setting for a movie or novel, a ragtag group of soldier transported to another reality to survive in the wilderness and fight off a mysterious enemy more advanced than themselves.

I'd have hell of a thing to write about when we get out of this mess.

But I did my best to purge those thoughts from my mind. I've had a hell of a day and I needed to catch up on lost sleep and my turn for night guard maybe in a couple of hours.

This was probably some weird dream and I probably would wake up back in the barracks and going along with my normal schedule.

Well, at least I hope so…

* * *

Meanwhile a lone night witch was patrolling the night sky keeping those who were sleeping safe from the alien menace, known none other than the neuroi.

She was humming a song that her father had made for her a long time ago when she was only a little girl. Her voice was soft and angelic and belonged to a young girl no older than fifteen.

It was a clam, quiet, still night. The moonlight danced on the Adriatic Sea like a flame of mercury. The cool night breeze brushed through Sanya V. Litvyak's, the 501st's night patrol with, silver hair.

She had just finished her night patrol, as the dawn sun awoke to illuminate the horizon. She had emerald antenna's sticking out from either side of her head.

These were no ordinary antennae's however, this was her magic ability. Her magic ability, magic antenna, allowed her to listen and interact with radio waves.

She was on final approach to the 501st's airbase, just able to make out the outline of a castle on the horizon.

She flicking through the radio waves for any suspicious activity, suspicious being the neuroi, until she came across a strange radio frequency.

The signal seemed to be surrounded heavily with interference and static.

"Come… this is Brav… squad. We are… SOS… requesting…traction, I say again…"

The same message was repeated over and over again. Through the heavy interference Sanya managed to make out a man with a Brittanian accent like a butler who worked for a famous member of the Brittanian royal family.

"Commander Minna, this is Sanya, I've picked up a radio transmission with a very interesting message. Requesting-"Sanya was cut off mid-sentence by her commander, Minna Dietlinde Wilcke, who was in charge of the 501st joint fighter wing.

"Negative, Sanya, you are to report back to base _immediately,_ were sending another sortie to locate the source of the transmission," the commanders voice cracked through the radio.

The radio frequency she was picking up must've been stronger than she initially thought. Being strong enough for the base to pick it up, despite the heavy interference.

She complied with the order and flew back to base.


	3. Encounter in the pine forest

**Authors note: How do you make a page break show on the word document? It won't show up on the fanfiction once uploaded. Any ideas?**

General Samuel Reyes stepped out the Chinook helicopter. Its long body and irregular oblong shape, at first glance, would look as if it shouldn't be able to fly. Despite it being one of the US's best heavy lifting transport helicopter. Its tandem rotor's whirling overhead kicking up dust blowing it to its surroundings.

Samuel wore a black blazer with a matching colour of trousers, multiple pins representing ribbons earned during combat in his early days of combat with yellow stars decorating his uniform and a pin with the letters US on one of his blazer collars. He was escorted by a detail of guards walking either side of him armed with M16's.

The sound of the helicopter's engine's rose in pitch as it flew vertically and flew off, blowing dust onto its surroundings again, making nearby personnel turn their heads away to protect their eyes.

"Glad to see you make it sir," the voice belonged to a man around his mid-30's. He had dark brown hair and nutmeg skin and wore the US marine MCCUU in a woodland MARPAT camouflage. He wore a helmet with the matching camo with ballistic goggles nestled neatly on top.

"Major Hamill, do you have the report?" the general asked raising a brow.

"I do, sir," the major nodded, "If you'd like to follow me,"

Major Hamill turned heel and walked off with the general closely following. As they continued walking the general noted the charred remains of vehicles as well as soldiers on patrol taking their designated routes and others scavenging for usable scrap from the remains. Hundreds of men on stretchers, as far as the eye can see, were being treated by medics. Some of the wounded were housed in tents with the iconic red cross for further treatment while others were being loaded onto UH 60 Blackhawk helicopters with the same red cross painted on the cabin door and the nose. It was a grizzly sight to say the least with the constant blood curdled screaming and once lush green grass dyed red in blood, as if the entire world was bleeding.

Major Hamill led the general and his guards to a clearing a on the side of the road where tents were being set up to create a temporary base. The drive was fortified with sandbags on either side which led to the clearing with guards wielding assault rifles. Behind the sandbags was a Humvee with a 50 calibre machine gun with the gunner mounted. The camp was bustling with activity, with guards on patrols and engineers starting up generators and pitching tents. Samuel was led to the command tent which was slightly larger to the others.

After ordering his guards to stay and guard the entrance Hamill led the general inside to his office. Nothing really stood out, as it was literally only a few crates acting as tables and a foldable chair behind of a laptop. The only decoration was a simple houseplant.

"Here's the file,"

The major handed him a yellow folder with a red stamp which read "CLASSIFIED". Samuel opened the folder and read through the file.

It read: "Sigma 22 'The Crew' was engaged at the Ukraine-Russian border escorting a convoy bound for an FOB in an undisclosed location. Sigma 22 is a squad consisting of six [6] members belonging to 'The Unit' All six [6] are MIA presumed KIA and have disappeared in a similar way to SGT.[REDACTED] 'Reaper' [REDACTED] as well as the 'The Ginza Incident'

No bodies recovered.

CPT.[REDACTED], LT.[REDACTED], MSG.[REDACTED],Cpl[REDACTED], SSG.[REDACTED] and Unit #[READCTED] are MIA.

The convoy's cargo consisted of: Raw materials, ammo, weapons, reinforcements, medical supplies and [REDACTED]. The item in question along with 'Sigma 22' and the addition of missing supply crates have disappeared, presumed destroyed in combat or captured. The search for the item and Sigma 22 will have a radius of 20km from the convoy, nearby settlements are to be searched and Red Imperial bases or areas of recent activity are to be raided and searched. No new details at this time,"

"So…, Black Company is involved and the 'item' is missing," the general said closing the file.

"Yes, sir," Hamill replied, "The involvement of Black Company is makes this extremely case sensitive and the missing 'item' is driving the higher ups crazy,"

"Hmmm…," the general thought a moment peering out the blinds, "Well then, let's hope wherever those Black company fellas are they have the 'item' safely with them. I can only wish Sigma 22 the best,"

* * *

"Hey! Try kicking it!" Mack cupped his hands shouting at Taylor followed by the clang of his foot after making contact with the containers door.

We found this container when Mike was on patrol on the early hours of the morning. It was olive drab in colour and was about 20 feet long and 8 feet high. We couldn't tell what was inside, let alone open it without damaging its contents inside, as it was sealed with an electromagnetic lock which could only be opened with a key card. None of us know about any containers with electromagnetic locks, but they were really vague with the brief.

We spent a good half an hour trying to figure out how to open it, even using the 'Mystical Power of Bait' that Taylor claims he has yet has never worked, except that one time with the party cannon and yes it was awesome.

Looks like any hopes of finding out what's inside will be dashed for the time being until we figure out how to open the magnetic lock.

"Looks like we'll have to pack it up," I said, "grab everything you can and prepare to head to the castle,"

For those wondering what the castle is it's a castle like structure Ayaka found during some early morning recon. The structure from what she described it looked like a mansion or temple, Italian or Greek in origin, with parts submerged underwater, mostly pillars. She also said it had a giant statue of an angel erected at the top and a runway jutting out of the structure with lots of aerial activity. Which may or may not bode well for us since Albert found that no airfields should be on our location, let alone mansions with giant statues on top of them. If even such a mansion exists.

Let's just pray there will be someone there to help us.

* * *

"Erica! Erica! Wake up damnit!" Gertrud clamoured at the small blonde to wake her up but to no avail, "We've got a mission!"

The brunette shook Erica more vigorously.

"C'mon give me five more minutes," Erica yawned.

"You said that five minutes ago!"

Gertrud sighed. She wasn't surprised at Erica's lazy behaviour, as it was typical for her.

Gertrud left the room and left Erica to her own devices. She walked through the bases numerous corridors and hallways to the briefing room.

The briefing room was small and basic. The floor and walls were entirely made of a dull grey stone and there was only one window which overlooked the bright blue sea and let in much needed light. There were cheap wooden chairs that the squadron members sat on whenever they were need to be briefed as well as a small podium the speaker would use with the addition of a green chalkboard to its right, giving it an impression of a small classroom.

"At 0400, in the morning, we intercepted a strange radio frequency coming not far off from base," the woman on the podium was the 501st's flight lead. Major Mio Sakamoto. Next to her was a red headed woman at her late teens. Her name was Minna Dietlinde Wilcke and she was the NCO of the 501st.

Around Gertrud were the members picked to mission. They were Erica Hartmann, who had just walked into the room and was still yawning and struggling to keep awake, Lynette Bishop, Yoshika Miyafuji, Charlotte Yeager, Francessca Lucchini, Perrine Clostermann and Mio Sakamoto.

"Alright, without further ado, go find the source of that transmission!" Minna said.

* * *

"What is it Ayaka?" I asked packing up supplies that I might need, like ammo, food and medicine, and putting them into my ruck.

"You may want to take a look at this, sir," Ayaka held a pair of binoculars as we walked to the edge of the forest, overlooking the sea, on the horizon was the mansion we were headed to.

Ayaka passed the binoculars.

I brought them to my eyes and adjusted the focus to make the image clearer.

"Hmm… interesting," I mumbled to myself.

On the horizon I could make out the specs of what I assumed was aircraft. They were too far away to describe in detail, but I could hear the distant hum of prop engines, and they appeared to be headed this way, fast. That was either a good thing or a bad thing.

"Shit," mumbled Ayaka.

"C'mon, let's go tell the others," I said, "Double time it!"

I and Ayaka ran back to the camp, stumbling throughout the stones that were in our way.

"Captain, what's the rush?" Mack said making slight tweaks on his LMG.

"No time, Bait, I need you to get on any AT weapons you can get your hands on, machine guns, rocket launchers, 'nades, anything." I barked, "Albert, Mike, I need you to fortify what you can, Mack get behind something and get ready with the SAW. Ayaka find an elevated position and keep over watch, we don't have a lot of time, let's move it lads!"

* * *

The 501st were rapidly approaching the site. During the brief they were informed of a high concentration of magic energy, it disappeared as soon as it came. It may have just been an error, or an undiscovered phenomenon they have yet to understand, or worst case scenario. Neuroi. But they were the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, they were witches, because there's nothing a witch can't do.

The squadron flew in a delta formation, slightly above tree level, skimming the green tips of the trees. Gertrud was flying just behind the Major's left side, with Erica Hartmann flying behind.

The squadron flew towards a clearing in the forest by the coast. As they flew towards the clearing something felt a little off, like they were being watched. It was a natural instinct for a soldier to assume that potential hostiles were hiding behind anything, but it was probably nothing.

However, their instincts weren't wrong as they made out metal and wooden crates as well as the remains of a camp, and by its look it was recently made.

"Gertrud, Erica, Shirley, Francesca. Get down there and search the area," Sakamoto ordered, "The rest of us will provide over watch,"

The four exited the strikers barefoot and started sweeping the site.

"Woah look at these crates!" Francesca said peering inside, "Wow I've never seen anything like this,"

Francesca was holding a weapon of some sort. It was black in colour with a large triangular shape rifle stock and a handle on the top of the rifle. The barrel was oddly shaped and had some sort of railings jutting out from the sides and underside. Unbeknownst to them it was an American M16A4 assault rifle and the railings were used to attach weapon mods, such as laser sights and fore grips.

"I've never seen anything like them," Erica said rummaging through the crates.

"Hey! Don't touch anything!" Gertrud hissed at her partner's curiosity.

"Looks like something Erica's sister would make," Shirley said.

The four were bewildered to what the contents of the crates and containers were and who may have camped here the previous night, but unknown to them they were being watched.

* * *

"We got four unknowns, Young girls?" Mack whispered looking down the sights of his M249.

He had taken position behind a makeshift MG nest which was literally a fallen log they used the night before concealed with twigs and leaves.

"They aren't wearing panties either," Albert whispered loading his Spas 12 back pressed against a tree.

"Hey, Bait, you enjoying the view, amigo?" Mike said, prone next to bait, the duo with their weapons pointed at their selected targets.

"Shut up," Bait whispered in a manner close to shouting, somewhat flustered, "That ain't cool, man!"

"What are they? Air assault infantry, like the ones with the jet packs?" asked Ayaka. She was crouched up on a tree branch and had her sight on the blond haired girl.

"Nah, my guess would be those terrorist syndicate lads in the middle east," I said concealing myself behind a crate.

"I dunno, what would they be doing this far out, and what were those things they just had on their legs," Mack said "They look like them ww2 fighters and didn't they just have animal ears and tails?"

"I wouldn't know, mate," I replied, "but im gonna find out,"

[Linebreak]

"Okay let's report our findings to the commander," Gertrud said.

"Got it," Erica replied, "Shirley's gonna have a fun time with these, whatever they are,"

"Minna, this is Gertrud, we've got something here,"

"Copy, what do you have?"

"Send over a detail, we got some-"

Gertrud heard the sound heard the sound of a gun loading.

"Don't move,"

The voice belonged to a male, judging from his accent he was Brittanian. And was clearly armed.

"Trudy!" Erica cried.

She charged at the unknown, MG 42 at the ready, but was swiftly tackled to the ground.

"Hartmann!" The trio yelled.

Just above the clearing the witches on over watch heard the yelling and commotion before radio silence.

Minna was silent for a while before issuing the order: "Get down there!"

A distant hum of the engines grew louder as they descended down the woods.

Reinforcements.

The man who tackled Hartmann was unlike Gertrud had ever seen before. He obviously was a soldier of some sort.

He wore armour that wasn't familiar to her. A Neuroi? He sure looked like one. He was black clad in padded armour plating, multiple pouches, a helmet with an extra plate of armour, sleek goggles that seemed to emit a slight crimson light and some sort of mask with the mouth of a shark or wolf with sharp jagged teeth, reminiscent of the nose art on P40 Warhawks.

"Damnit!" Shirley cocked her Bar, finger on the trigger.

"Stop! Or we'll shoot!"

"We outnumber you!" Sakamoto yelled, gun at the ready.

The air was heavy with tension. The witches guns were raised at the man, fingers trained on the trigger.

"Ready,"

Gertrud looked down the sights of her MG 42, aimed at the man's head.

"Aim,"

She rested her finger on the trigger, relaxing by inhaling and exhaling.

"Fire!" Sakamoto ordered.

"Team! Open fire!" The man yelled.

Before any of the witches were able to shoot the earth shook violently, as if it was protesting on both of the parties actions.

"Girls?! Girls?!" Minna's voice cracked through the comms, somewhat panicked, "Get out of there!"

"What is it, Commander?!" Sakamoto asked, unable to comprehend what was going on.

"Neuroi!"


	4. Firefight in the woods

Sir!" Albert cried on our comms, "I'm reading significant seismic activity coming from directly below us!"

"No shit! I think we can fucking see that!" Ayaka yelled

"Neuroi!" a raven haired woman said, "Scramble!"

She took to the skies along with her other squadmates. I didn't know how she was managing to fly, especially with those leg things. Hell, they shouldn't be able to fly like that according to the laws of aerodynamics!

But now wasn't the time to question it.

Leaving us stranded on the ground, the rumbling intensified, until something erupted from the ground releasing plumes of dirt and dust into the sky.

Once the dust cleared it revealed a large mass of black metal, unlike anything I've ever seen before. It was about the size of an abrams tank and was covered in black hexagons, save for a red light inside a barrel of what I presumed to be its main armament. It stood on four legs and it vaguely resembled a turtle or crab. Its turret casing was oddly shaped and was smaller compared to its hull.

"Is it me or is the light in its gun getting brighter?" Mack said.

He was indeed right, it gave out a raucous screech as the luminosity of the red marking increased.

"Ahhhhhh… bollocks," I sighed, "Everyone get the fuck down!"

I dashed to the opposite direction from the towering metal monstrosity from behind me, running as fast as my legs could carry me. I heard its dreadful screech again.

"Cap get down!" yelled Bait, shooting his MP5 in an attempt to draw its fire.

For once I decided to follow his advice, and good thing too. As I jumped down and laid as flat as I could on the floor, the machine fired its laser, a ruby red beam narrowly missed my head, only singing the top of my helmet.

I slowly looked up and the laser carved out a small chunk of the forest, leaving perfectly cut trees and devastation in its path. Luckily my squadmates managed to get out of the way especially Ayaka who jumped down landing on her feet just as the laser cut down the tree she was on.

Talk about close calls.

I crawled behind a rock, cooked and threw an M18 smoke grenade to conceal our position. Luckily its thick smokescreen confused it, allowing us to recollect our thoughts and find a way to try and kill it.

"I don't mean to sound cynical, but I think that fucker is going to kill us!" Mack said.

"Trig, we've left the girl behind!" Magic man said pulling himself up next to me.

"What girl?" I poked my head out of cover and looked through the smokescreen. I saw the unconscious blonde girl I tackled from earlier laying on her back, unconscious.

Damn, how could I forget about her?

"What do we do? The situation's gone FUBAR!" Ayaka said reloading her rifle.

"I can't find any known vehicle that matches the new hostiles profile on my database," said Albert.

"Well of course it ain't on your database, tin can. If the Imperials had shit like that we would've lost the war long ago!"

"May I please remind you to not refer to me as 'Tin can" Albert said acting awfully calm, despite the situation. Well I mean he is a robot, "I am Katana class combat drone. Unit KCD #10078, otherwise known as Albert.

"No, this isn't good, they're starting to panic," I thought to myself, "If you would just shut the fuck up!"

Ayaka and Albert fell silent and stopped squabbling amongst themselves.

"Finally some peace and quiet," I thought to myself, "Now think, Lewis, think. What do we do in a situation like this? How are we going to take that thing down? How are we going to get that girl out of here?"

* * *

"C'mon! We gotta go!" Gertrud barked, "Get to the strikers!"

Multiple questions flooded Gertrud's mind. Why was Neuroi activity so erratic lately and who were those mysterious soldiers who appeared out of nowhere? Were they Neuroi too? No that just wasn't possible they were fighting the neuroi just now. But if they were human surely they must know about witches?

Gertrud purged those questions from her mind. Right now she needed to focus on the task at hand.

She and the others made a break for their strikers, left neatly pointing skywards and in perfect rows as if they were waiting for them.

"Trudy look out!" Yelled Francesca.

Gertrud using her quick wits and reflexes ducked out of the way from the incoming laser, destroying more of the forest behind them and an explosion erupted from behind.

"Oh crap…" Shirley muttered.

A smouldering smoking pile of metal laid in numerous fragments, the remains of what was their strikers.

"Damnit!" Gertrud muttered. She took cover behind a tree stump, crouching behind it, firing her mg42 at the neuroi getting its attention, "Barkhorn here, were stuck down here! The neuroi got our strike units! Requesting assistance!"

"This is Sakamoto, were busy up here too! We can't get down there without risking casualties," Sakamoto yelled over the gunfire and engines roaring over the radio.

"Crap, we left Hartmann!" Shirley said.

She pointed towards the unconscious blonde directly under the neuroi. Luckily for her, however,the neuroi didn't seem to notice her as it engaged the three witches returning fire stranded on the ground.

"We got to get Hartmann," Gertrud cried. She wasn't about to let an old friend die at the hands of the Neuroi. She was about to rush in MG42 at the ready but was stopped by Shirley who grabbed her by the collar "Hey, let go of me!"

She struggled to wriggle free from Shirley's grasp, her back pressed up against Shirley's breasts.

"Trudy, stop it!" pleaded Shirley, "You rushing in there won't help anyone, it'll only make things worse. The neuroi hasn't noticed that Erica is here. We'll have to deal with the neuroi first, if we want to get her out, alive,"

"Damnit," Gertrud muttered. How could she be so careless?

"Hey, what are they doing?" Francesca asked.

"Wait, what? They?" Gertrud asked confusedly as she stopped struggling.

She looked to towards the dissipating cloud of white-grey smoke and noticed black silhouettes, each moving to different positions before disappearing into the shadows.

"What are they doing? They must be suicidal if they're planning down the neuroi alone.

* * *

"Yes! Yes! That could work!" I thought to myself finalising the plan in my head.

"Alright guys here's the plan. Mack, I want you to stay here and keep that thing suppressed with tracers and on my order ready up and fire you AT4 at the machine. Crosshair, I want you to get behind that fallen tree on its right side and piss that thing off. Albert, you'll come with me and bait behind that crate. MM, head to its left side, behind that rock, get your M4 and medical gear ready, for when Bait gets that girl too you,"

"What? I ain't running towards thing!" Bait protested.

"Yes you are, you're the fastest among all of us, don't worry me and Albert got your back,"

They all gave a simple nod and moved swiftly into position.

Albert and Bait followed me into position. I poked my head out of cover, to check on the enemy. Luckily, for us, it seemed to be distracted on the girls, who were dealing with it better than us despite their outdated weapons. Fatal mistake on its part.

"You guys in position yet?" I radioed in.

"Mack here, tracers locked and loaded,"

"This is Crosshair, I'm in position,"

"Magic Man, just reached position, whenever you're ready, señor,"

"Ten-four, your ready Bait?" I whispered.

"Let's just get this over with," He muttered.

"On my mark, fire," I said, loading HE rounds into the 20mm grenade launcher, "3… 2… 1… Light that wanker up!"

We cocked our guns, firing simultaneously from all directions. Seeing the machine confused and unsure who to engage, it froze up.

"Bait, go now!"

"You guys better keep my ass in one piece!"

He ran towards the machine, his head down, as the neuroi started to react to our attack. It rotated its turret and fire at us.

Bait skidded under it, nearly getting crushed by its needle like legs as it tried to rotate. He picked up the blonde and slung her over his shoulder and ran to Magic Man, without being noticed. Like an insect scuttering in the grass.

"This is Bait, the girl's safe," he radioed, "She's still alive and only suffered minor wounds according to Magic Man,"

"Copy that," I replied reloading the mag for the 20mm, "Mack, light that cocksucker up!"

Mack held his fire. He switched to his AT4 and crouched aiming down the sights and fire, while the machine was still distracted. The missile screeched to its destination before colliding with its target and exploding.

The machines lower right side had a large hole completely destroying its hind right leg and shredding its right foreleg.

* * *

"Woah," Shirley breathed, "Did they just take out that Neuroi?"

"That was incredible," Francesca said in amazement, "They even went back to save Erica too,"

"I wouldn't be too sure… how come that thing hasn't burst into fragments?" Gertrud said. She had a point. Neuroi typically burst into bright white glass like shards, otherwise known as 'Neuroi Fragments' unless… "They haven't hit the core!"

* * *

"Did we take it out?" asked Ayaka slowly moving out of cover.

"I think so," Mack said, "Bait, go check it out,"

"No, fuck off,"

"Hold on, what's that glow?"

"I'll check it out," I cautiously approached it the ravaged machine, rifle cocked and finger on the trigger. As I got in closer and knelt down to inspect it, I observed and a bright glow especially coming from the damaged parts and no crew either.

"No don't!

"It's not dead yet!"

I looked towards the source of the voices. They belonged to the girls that landed here earlier.

What do they mean it's not dead yet? Nothing of that size could survive a direct hit from a rocket.

I heard a large thud from behind me.

"It's right behind me… isn't it?" I slowly turned around, "Ohhhhh… bollocks,"

The machine we thought had been destroyed was very much alive. The bright white fragments floated back to the damaged parts and attached itself to the damaged hull, effectively repairing all the damage as if nothing happened.

Its weapon pointer straight towards me a crimson bright light started to illuminate the barrel before firing its laser. I braced myself using my arms to cover myself in the futile attempt to shield myself. The lasers light was blinding.

A few moments had passed. I didn't expect myself to live this long, especially against a laser, so why wasn't I dead?

I slowly removed my hands and had the face of complete shock.

One of those girls… is that a shield?

"How is she doing that," I asked, the shock still evident on my face.

She held her hands in front to her, in the position that you would use to stop something from hitting you. A large blue circle covered her shielding me from the laser. As the laser hit it dispersed around the sides, enveloping us in a hazy crimson light.

I continued staring at her at awe, unable to move, and I'm sure my squadmates had the same look on their faces.

The girl had grey clothing and had dark brown hair worn in two small pigtails and looked to be around nineteen.

Her two buddies, a ginger and some thirteen year old, popped out of cover and started firing while the machine was distracted.

Team, help those girls out!"

"Roger!" they responded.

Upon taking fire the machine ceased fire and started moving erratically and attacked us at random. We worked in conjunction with the three other girls to destroy it. Heh, never in my wildest dreams I thought about fighting a giant mechanical crab thing that shot lasers along with under aged girls who used WW2 weapons who didn't wear anything to cover their legs. It doesn't help that only fifteen twenty-five minutes ago we were holding each other at gunpoint and me tackling one of them to the ground.

I dodged a laser and fire my gun at full auto, temporarily disabling the gun giving us a little bit of breathing room before it regenerated.

"Damn, this thing is harder to take down than a Sectopod!" Mack remarked.

"This bastard doesn't know when to die," Crosshair said. Moving to the next available piece of cover.

Albert chucked a frag grenade it bounced onto the top of the machine before detonating, making it screech in pain, leaving a sizable hole on it.

"There it is! Core located!" The brunette said.

"Core! What's a core!?" I yelled over the gunfire.

"That glowing thing its there!" the smaller of the two girls, a black haired thirteen year old who wore a white uniform and wielded a M1919 A6 machine gun, "That's its weak spot, shoot that and the neuroi is history,"

She pointed towards the hole Albert had made. In the centre was a small was a ruby red crystalline object. Unfortunately, for us, the hole was sealing up rapidly.

And what the hells a neuroi? It's something I've certainly never heard before. But that didn't matter, it was something I could question later. We couldn't waste such an opportunity to finish it off, once and for all. But we only had a small window before it heals again. Otherwise we would have to start back at square one, which we didn't have the ammo for.

"Team, you heard the girl shoot the core!"

"Roger,"

We started firing at it, trying to make our shots make contact with the core. As soon as it noticed our attacks at its weak spot it started to move at incredible speeds, making it nearly impossible for us to hit it.

"Damn, I can't get a bead on it! It's moving too fast!"

"My weapons running dry!"

I fired my M29, using lead to make sure the bullets hit its target in conjunction to its movements.

Click. Click. Click.

That dreaded noise, the last thing you want to hear when in an intense firefight, which only meant one thing…

…out of ammo.

"Out of ammo… that was my last mag too…"

"Can anyone get a shot?!" I said switching to my sidearm.

"Negative, I'm dry!" MM said.

"Here too!" Mack yelled.

"Crosshair here, I've got one round left in the chamber," Crosshair said, "I need you guys to keep it distracted for me until I get a clear shot,"

"Ten-four," I responded, "You heard her! Start shooting!"

We started shooting our sidearm's at it. Albeit, they did virtually nothing, but it got the job done. The 'Neuroi' switched its targets to whoever was shooting it. Using this to our advantage, we managed to keep it from noticing our sniper while keeping its core exposed.

"C'mon, nearly there," Crosshair mumbled, adjusting her scope, "Muzzle velocity, eight hundred and fifty meters a second. Distance downrange, thirty-five meters. The gun is fired on level ground at a height of five point three two feet. Then that means the bullet would hit the ground at around naught point five seven six seconds if rounded to the third decimal place,"

She paced her breathing adding lead to her target and angled her rifle slightly, to account for bullet drop.

She made her final adjustments while keeping her finger nestled on the trigger.

"Now…"

She pulled the trigger making the rifle let out a deafening bang echoing throughout the forest. The bullet soared high above us before hitting its mark. It pieced through the core, going straight through the other side. The core started to crack before shattering into tiny fragments.

The neuroi just stood still for a few short moments before it burst into bright glass like shards, no bigger than the palm of your hand.

"Did we finally get it," Bait panted, "is it dead, as in _dead_ dead,"

"It looks to be that that way," Albert responded, "No further movement or activity… its dead…"

We stood in silence for a while before we broke into celebration.

"Woooohoo, Ayaka you badass motherfucker!" rejoiced Mack.

"Oh thank God!" I said weakly, collapsing onto my back, due to exhaustion, "Yaay go Ayaka…congratulations… Man I'm knackered. Can someone carry me? Albert, help a lad out, I'm too tired,"

* * *

"This is Barkhorn, reporting. Were clear here," she said, "What about the others, Minna?"

"Copy that, all members are accounted for. What about Erica and those soldiers?"

"I can confirm that they're no threat, not from what I've seen anyway, they even saved Erica, without them she maybe dead. I still have my suspicions though. They don't seem to know what witches or Neuroi are. And their equipment..." She looked towards a group of laughing soldiers. One of them a tall oddly shaped man cradling his squadmate in his arms, "They're unlike anything I've ever seen, which raises a few flags…"

"Hmmm… interesting…" Minna responded, "Alright bring them to the base, I've got transports dispatched to your position, coming from your northeast. I wish question those soldiers personally,"

"Understood…"

Gertrud, personally, was against her CO's decision, especially because the hostility they showed earlier. So she didn't know why she saved one of them and fought alongside them. A common enemy maybe?

But orders are orders.

She looked again towards the soldiers, one of which was drawing something on his sleeping squadmates face.

One question lingered around Gertrud's mind…

…Who are they?

 **Neuroi Files: Turtle Recon Unit**

 **Class: Turtle**

 **Role: Recon**

 **Service:1937-present**

 **Weight: Aprox 65 tons**

 **Length: 26.02ft**

 **Width: 12ft**

 **Height: 15.05ft**

 **Armour: 12.7mm(o.5in)**

 **Main Armament: 75mm recoiless laser rifle**

 **Secondary Armament:None**

 **The recon turtle unit is a small 4 legged neuroi belonging to the turtle category. It is approximately 26ft long, 15ft high and 12ft wide.**

 **It is armed with only a 75mm recoiless laser rifle which can melt organic matter and metal. However, it is easily countered by a witches shield.**

 **Its armour consists of a single layer around 12.7mm thick(0.5in) and is resistant but not immune to low caliber weapons. However, it is easily destroyed with AT(Anti-Tank) weapons and high caliber guns.**

 **Due to its small size, compared to other neuroi, it is presumed to be a small scout with the objective of monitoring troop movement, I in and observe activity and scout out base location from afar. But due to its profile it can't gather information in great detail. But has been observed to travel in immense speeds making it a challenge to destroy.**


	5. Chapter 5

We sat silently in the truck, none of us dared to say a word. Maybe we were all just tired or we didn't trust one another, the silence was intense, only the rumbling as we traversed over uneven terrain.

We were on a Mercedes Benz L3000 painted steel grey, our destination was what I assumed to be their base. We huddled awkwardly at one side while the four girls we fought with in the forest sat on the opposite side.

Behind us was a column consisting of several other identical trucks that carried what remained of the supplies, including the twenty foot container we have yet to open. Unfortunately a large portion off what we had left on the camp had been destroyed by what I had been informed as the Neuroi.

We sat there awkwardly for about twenty minutes of complete silence. They felt like hours, the exhaustion made it difficult for me to even keep my eyes open, what made it worse is that we were being brung in for questioning.

I wasn't in the mood to answer any questions, especially after the little firefight we had in the forest.

Although, I had questions of my own too. Who are these girls? They're unlike anything I've ever seen. And what was that robot thing? And were those lasers? I shouldn't be too surprised, we were known to use lasers occasionally on armoured vehicles, aircraft and even infantry. Even the Imperials had a decent arsenal of laser based weaponry.

But none were as devastating as the one equipped on it…

The truck came to an abrupt stop.

"Alright were here," the brunette said, "Grab your things and follow me. The commander wants to have a word with you,"

She approached the rear of the truck and undone the latches on the door before stepping out, with us following closely behind.

As soon as I stepped outside the dimly lit rear of the truck I was greeted with one of the largest buildings I've ever seen. The base resided by the sea. The castle in the centre, from what we scouted earlier in the morning, overlooked the entire base and the surrounding land. The only way to reach the base was via a relatively small bridge, located around the back of the island.

It was unlike any place I've seen before, let alone heard about in the vast place they call the internet. A little too fancy to be a military base.

"Hey, Gertrud," the redhead called out, "I'll see ya later,"

The girl known as Gertrud waved her off.

As we walked further into the base I couldn't help but marvel at its spectacular size, especially that of the statue. It was unlike any place I've ever seen, let alone heard about, in the vast metropolis called the internet.

This place couldn't have existed…

…could it?

"What I would do for a camera right about now…" mumbled Taylor in the background.

"Remember guys, were not tourists,"

She took us through what looked like a hangar, inside was a vast assortment of World War two equipment and vehicles. Ranging from Willy's jeeps from tiger tanks, hell, even a few iconic planes from the time; such as Messerschmitt BF109's and North American P51D Mustangs. It looked like a bloody war museum.

The base personnel even wore the uniforms that the axis and allies used, even the base guards wielded MP40's and M1 Garand's. A sight my inner nerdy self would behold, had I had the energy for it.

But would an army unit of this day and age use such dated equipment? A resistance cell maybe?

They were known to use WW2 and Cold War era equipment to fight back against their Imperial-esque oppressor's, I've even seen modernised Tiger 2 tanks with ERA and Chobham armour and T34- 85's using Rheinmetall 120mm l55 guns. But I would have expected a few Kalashnikov's or T62's lying around at the very least.

I couldn't help but notice the base personnel eye us suspiciously, making me feel a little uneasy, as if we were aliens or criminals. However, I had grown used to this over time when being stationed on various bases overseas. Civilians and soldiers react differently to newcomers, especially to foreign ones. So really it wasn't anything new to me, but when _everyone_ gives you that same look, especially considering the events from earlier, does raise a few flags…

I shrugged off the feeling as we followed Gertrud through endless and winding corridors.

We stopped in front of a door painted in mahogany. It didn't really stand out or look any different as it was identical to the dozens we had passed.

"Commander, I got the guests," Gertrud said, knocking on the door.

"Come in Trudy," a female voice replied.

"Welcome, I am wing commander Minna Dietlinde Wilcke," the red headed woman introduced, "Please take a seat,"

"Trudy, if you would be so kind to lock the door,"

Gertrud shuffled slightly before closing and locking the door indicated by a click. She stood by the door side with her hands behind her back. We sat down by seats arranged in front of Minna's desk, removing our headgear.

"If you didn't already know, I want to ask you a few questions…" she clasped her hands and in an instant the atmosphere in the room changed. Her initial carefree and happy manner changed into a more morbid and serious tone.

"First off, who are you?"

"Captain Lewis Williams, British army,"

"Lieutenant, Mack David's, Marine corps, at your service,"

"Master Sergeant, Ayaka Tomoko, JGSDF,"

"Corporal, Taylor Wright, US army Rangers,"

"Staff Sergeant, Mike Garcia, US army Rangers,"

"Katana class combat drone, KCD unit #10078, otherwise designated as Albert,"

Needless to say, Albert, was the one who peeked Minna's interest the most. It can be quite surprising seeing an autonomous robot that's so remarkably humanoid. I'm talking from experience.

"British army?" Minna thought, "Does he mean the Britannian army? And what's the JGSDF?"

"Second question… what unit are you from? Your uniforms don't look like anything I've ever seen before,"

"Black Company, Sigma 22, 'The Crew' Bravo unit three," I replied.

"And can you tell me more about Black Company?"

"I'm sorry ma'am, but that's highly classified information you're trying to access, the only thing I can tell you is that were special forces, and that's all you need to know from us,"

"Hmm… last question, where are you from?"

"Oh bollocks," I muttered. Well, she had to ask about it eventually.

"S'cuse me, unrelated question," Mike asked, "But what year is it?"

"1945," Gertrud answered sternly from the back of the room, "what kind of stupid question is that?"

"Wait, what!?" Mack said standing from his seat, "1945? Are you joking?"

"Excuse me," I said getting Minna's attention, "Can I have a word with my team for just a moment?"

"Go ahead,"

We huddled in a circle in the middle of the room, similar to a rugby scrum.

"What the actual fuck! When were we in 1945?" Ayaka whispered, if you could even call it that, "The last time I checked it was 2018!"

"So the fuck do we tell her?" I asked, "We already made a bad first impression in the forest. Now were going to sound like we belong in some mental asylum,"

"So do we just say 'Oh were from another dimension seventy years into the future fighting against an empire with a radical ideology hell-bent on world domination,"

"So do we just tell them the truth?"

"Well there is nothing else we can tell them?" Mack said, "Anything else would sound really unorthodox,"

I sighed.

"So…," I said turning to face the Co, "Let's say were not from around here…"

"Care to elaborate Lewis?" Minna asked as her curiosity perked.

"How do I put this…," I said scratching the back of my head, "We _may_ be from an alternate reality,"

Truth be told that was the most awkward thing I've ever said in my entire life.

"Alternate reality?"

Albert then explained mechanically, "A parallel universe is a reality co-existing with another. Essentially, it is different compared to one's own in anyway shape and form varying in difference in either minor ways or greater ones. An example being the Ginza incident in…"

"Let's just say your world and ours aren't exactly the same," Mach helpfully interrupted.

"And exactly how different is your world?"

"Well, for starters, the year is 2018 from where we come from," I said. "The years 1939 till 1945 are long etched into history books,"

"Yeah and instead of fighting these giant black robot things we've fought each other," Taylor said

"To add to that, were fighting a war that has been going on for about twelve years and we still got a long way to go. World War 3,"

"And how exactly did the war begin?"

"The war began a few years after the creation of the empire from communist countries, such as the former USSR, China and North Korea, after years of economic strife and civil war. However, its creation only brought them, short term relief. The war started on December 12th 2006, after the discovery of multiple deposits of resources in surrounding countries the empire invaded its neighbours," Albert explained.

"Yep, same shit different reality," Ayaka muttered.

"Y'know what they say 'War never changes'" shrugged Mike, "Well in this case it does,"

"Heh, Asia is giant warzone and the middle east and Africa is a fucking trainwreck,"

Silence invaded the room and a feeling of uneasiness crept in. If I didn't know better it sounds to me the Nazi's aren't our enemy. Well at least not here.

"So tell me wing commander, so tell me, what are these 'Neuroi' I've been hearing about," I asked inquisitively, "What are you up against?"

"The Neuroi are an alien race that first appeared in 1914, boasting in technology and superior firepower compared to our own. Our current technology does virtually nothing to them. Until we invented the 'Striker' unit. A device capable of amplifying a witches natural magic abilities, invented by the late Doctor Miyafuji" Minna said, sounding a tad bit dramatic.

"Strike unit? You mean those things that were on your legs earlier," Mack asked.

"Correct, with the 'Striker' unit humanity managed to defeat them in 1918, until then we were relatively at peace with each until the Fuso Sea Incident in 1937 and the Neuroi invasion of Ostmark in '45,"

"It doesn't help that we don't know why they're here or why they even bothered to attack us in the first place," Gertrud added in.

"Wait, witches?" Taylor asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, in a way, but not the kind your thinking," Gertrud replied.

Silence invaded the room once again.

"Well it's starting to get dark now," Minna said looking out towards the window. The outside was a mix of indigo and orange, the sun was submerging itself on the horizon and the sky grew cloudy.

"You may take your leave now, Trudy unlock the door and escort them to the unoccupied quarters,"

We picked up our belongings and took our leave. As we walked out we were ambushed by a vicious pack of pantless under aged girls!

"AHHHHHH!" Ayaka screamed, "Jesus Christ!"

I turn to see Ayaka being maliciously groped by some thirteen year old from behind.

"Woah! Woah! Woah!" stammered Mike, "Bad touch! Bad touch!"

"Stop staring and help me!" squealed Ayaka, blushing redder than a tomato.

"Sorry but I can't just start poking around a woman's chest, that's just rude!" Taylor teased.

"Says you and your weeb shit!"

"Lucchini! Cut the groping out!" Gertrud barked.

The prepubescent girl let go of Ayaka's chest.

"So Francesca, what do you give her?" the buxom redhead from earlier asked.

"Ehhhh… let's say consolation prize…"

We stood there speechless, jaws dropped, Even Albert. If he had a jaw to drop.

"What were you all doing out here," hissed Gertrud, "You better not have been eavesdropping on us,"

"Trudy, we just want to know who the new guys are,"

Gertrud sighed.

"So, is it true that you guys are from another dimension in the future?"

"What's a 'Black company'?"

"Why do you have white hair? Is it because you're old? You don't look like a skinny old man to me?"

"Hey! Hey! Cut it out!" barked Gertrud, "It pass curfew, go to bed now, and the only one that should be awake is Sanya,"

"Trudy, your no fun today,"

[Linebreak]

Minna sat motionless behind her desk, waiting for the noise outside to subside. Deep in thought she clasped her hands, she was left to contemplate on what had just happened today. Many questions flooded her mind.

Their equipment, their weapons, their armour, they didn't look like anything she had ever seen in her seven years of service. What else did they just say? Red Imperial Empire? Black Company? World War three?

She's never heard of anything remotely similar. If these people are who they say they are and what happens is true…

… Just the thought terrified her.


	6. Chapter 6

My eyes slowly opened as I stared up towards the great blue sky. I grunted as I staggered to my feet, the rocky dirt floor really did a number on my back. I almost feel was an old man. I stumbled to the edge of a steep cliff on a mountain side overlooking a large sea side city, I could even make out the dirt roads and port facilities.

"I had to deceive my people to lead them into salvation," the voice echoed through my head, it was distinctively female, it didn't sound familiar either. "To save them from them, and to save you from them. I know who you are. I know where you come from,"

I heard a loud roaring sound over the distance. At first I thought it was a gust of wind or the engine from a jet aircraft until a Neuroi raced over me, nearly knocking me off my feet. I looked up to the sky, which was speckled with vast amounts of Neuroi of every possible description. They converged towards the city as an ominous dark cloud formation descended from the heavens. Inside was a large dagger like shape that was bigger than the city itself.

I watched as it opened fire on the city destroying everything. The buildings, animals and even the people were incinerated. Not even the army could do anything, let alone the witches. Before I knew it the world around me turned into a sea of fire…

" **This is the way the world ends…"**

I shot up from my bed, breathing heavily as I started scanning my surroundings. Stone floor, single glass window and not much in the way of furniture besides a bedside lamp sitting atop a single drawer by the bed. I breathed a sigh relief and slid out of bed.

"Oh bed you complete me," I yawned, "But alas, I must take my leave,"

There wasn't much reason to go back into bed, despite how much I would like the extra bit of sleep.

I proceeded to look more presentable. I combed my hair, and splashed cold water on my dirty face and brushed my furry little teeth. I removed my protective gear and web gear leaving me with my black BDU.

As I walked out of my room and opened the door to the corridor the sun's rays shone through the windows, blinding my tired eyes.

"Damn, it's bright…" I mumbled to myself.

I walked down the corridor checking the rooms my squad mates occupied last night.

Empty.

Where could've the blighters gone off to?

I decided walk further down the corridor in the hopes to ask someone for directions to the whereabouts of my squad.

"Hartmann, wake up damnit!"

"…forty more minutes…"

"Don't forty more minutes me!"

"Uhhh… Trude…"

"What the hell…" I muttered as I entered the room, "Damn, it's like a dump in here,"

The room was halved evenly by a fence. Both sides were a polar opposite to each other. One half was spotless free of any mess and tidy. The other side however, could literally be only be described as a junkyard. There were mountains of random junk, some of them even touching the ceiling.

I navigated through the dense soup of mounds of trash.

"Uhhh… hey, you need help with you friend, mate?" I called out to the voices. I peered over the piles junk and trash, "Oh, captain Barkhorn,"

"Yes that's me, now what do you want?"

"Why do you sleep in a dump?" early morning me said nonchalantly.

"Don't look at me! Its Hartmann's mess not mine!"

"Hartmann?" I peered over Gertrud and noticed a petite, small blonde sleeping soundly on the bed.

It took a while to process before an 'Oh bollocks' left my mouth.

"My humblest apologies, Hartmann, about yesterday. I didn't mean to… you know…" I said putting on my most formal voice.

The most she was able to answer back with was a yawn or two followed by Gertrud giving out a long sigh.

"Fine, have it your way, Hartmann, but you better be awake when I get back," and with that she left the room.

"Wha… hey! Wait up!" I called, "I need to ask you a question,"

"What is it Brittanian?"

"Remember, I'm from alternate dimension, so technically I'm 'British'"

"Oh yeah an 'Alternate dimension'"

"Do you not believe me?"

"I don't trust you, like at all," she said with a hint of venom, "You may have most of the fighter wing fooled, maybe even Minna, but not me and definitely not the major,"

She walked off leaving me alone, tired and confused. Just another day at the office and I didn't even get to ask for directions.

[Linebreak]

After half an hour or so of wandering the base and asking for directions from nervous base personnel. I found the squad loitering in the hangar doing quite literally nothing, they looked bored out of their minds.

"Ey' cap how your morning was? You sleep well?" Mack said.

"Yeah I did, best sleep of my life actually," I said taking a seat next to them, "why didn't any of you cheeky buggers wake me?"

"Well it looked like you needed the sleep, we all do, especially comfortable beds and clean bedsheets in our own rooms," Mike explained, "Especially Ayaka, you know what she's like when she doesn't get enough sleep,"

He whispered that part although Ayaka turned around and gave us all the cold dead stare before returning to whatever she was doing.

"Damn, still can't believe were in another dimension…" Mack muttered

"Yes, it is indeed quite harrowing," agreed Albert.

"One with aliens invading the planet too," Taylor remarked.

"I mean what's next? Unicorns and Pegasus shits flying around busting out their love and tolerance too protect their horse kingdom, whatever the hell that might be?" Ayaka joked sarcastically.

"Don't forget the 'Magical friendship powers'" Mack added in helpfully.

"That sounds eerily familiar…" Mike said, "In fact, I'm highly positive there was a show about that same exact thing,"

"Uhhh… excuse me, what are you talking about? I came in on 'Magical Friendship powers',"

I turned towards from where the voice came from. It belonged to a young teen, around sixteen years in age, she wore a black blazer on top of her sweater and striped knee socks green and brown in colour and had tea blonde hair worn in a ponytail.

"Oh we were just talking about Horseytime Friends," Taylor joked.

"I'm pretty sure that it wasn't called that," Mike remarked.

"Well… uhmm Commander Minna wanted me to ask you to join us for breakfast," she said nervously.

"So what do you think guys?"

"Yeah, I'm up for breakfast," Mack agreed.

"Sames," Taylor chimed.

"Alright let's go,"

[Linebreak]

We followed, from what I've gathered was Lynette, as she led us through the hallways to place that might actually serve something better than MRE's. She opened a door revealing a large sized room, inside was a large dining table set out with plates and in the back was a kitchen.

I could already see someone dart back and forth preparing the food. Looking at us were around ten blank faces as we stood by the door with Lynette with the same blank faces.

Well this is extremely awkward and unorthodox…

We sat down by the table on the unoccupied seats and waited as Lynette and Yoshika laid out the food. Unluckily for me I had to sit next to Gertrud, the only one here I know that hates me. She looked at me with disdain while I looked down on her smugly.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she muttered, avoiding eye contact with me.

"Guess who your NCO invited for breakfast?"

"Shut up you, you're lying,"

You're a 'Tsundere'" I teased.

"What?"

"Yeah you heard me 'Tiny Trudy is a Tsundere'

"Fuck you, you're a captain of a 'so called' special unit, act like it"

I see Tiny Tsundere Trudy has gotten a little salty," I teased as I backed away slowly, "I'll be back to make fun of ya' later,"

The smell of spices wafted into the air as the scent of Miso, Ramen was presented to us as it in front of us in bowls.

Needless to say our eyes sparkled like little children opening their gifts on Christmas day.

"Bon apetit! Let's dig in!" Taylor said.

"Itadakimasu," Ayaka said.

I looked at the soup in my bowl. To be honest, I don't think I have seen this particular dish only on TV and Anime. It was a yellowy brown soup with noodles, sweetcorn, a boiled egg and some pork. I raised a spoon into my mouth and it wasn't half bad. It was mostly, salty. But it also has meaty, nutty tones. It wasn't actually that bad, in all honesty, it's better compared to the MRE's.

I shoved a few more spoonful's into my mouth.

"Holy crap! This is amazing! What food is this?" Mike exclaimed.

"Thanks!" Yoshika sheepishly smiled, "Its Miso, Ramen. A dish from Fuso. I'm glad you liked it,"

"Yoshika, your cooking is fantastic!" I heard Lucchini yell.

"It really is Yoshika, it brings me back home," Sakamoto added in eating her share.

"Well whatever it is, it has to be better than last year's thanksgiving potluck," Mack joked.

We all laughed.

As if on cue alarms started wailing as the base was thrown into panic.

"Damnit again!?"

"The last attack was two days ago…"

"It looks like we'll have to cut-" Minna said as she stood up.

"Wait!" I interrupted Minna midway her sentence catching her off guard, "Let us join you!"


End file.
